1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the exchange of rights, for example of monetary values, of loyalty points, of purchase or subscription orders and/or of rights to a multimedia content, and more particularly methods and a device for electronic entities, preferably portable, for the exchange and the use of such rights.
2. Description of the Related Art
The evolution of communication networks, in particular the Internet, has contributed to the development of new methods of distributing goods and services which have themselves driven the implementation of new payment means. For example, payment via a communication network, also called online payment, enables a user, after having ordered an article or a service, to provide banking information, an amount and an authorization to a trusted third party in order for the latter to transmit a transaction request to the computer system of the relevant banking establishment.
However, while the means of payment between several companies or between individuals and companies have been the source of numerous developments, few systems allow an exchange of rights or of amounts of values, simple and secured, between several individuals.
There are, on the one hand, electronic purses enabling a debitor to pay a monetary sum to a creditor, the debitor and the creditor being physically close to one another at the time of the transaction. According to these systems, a payment card is capable of storing a number representing a monetary amount. This card can be credited, or topped up, using an appropriate device. It is debited on each payment. This method of payment does not generally implement any mechanism for checking the consent of the card holder through his authentication; it is often an anonymous method of payment, like a cash payment. However, such a means of payment can be used only for small transactions. Moreover, the creditor must have a device that is suitable for reading the card, by contact or without contact, to receive the cash.
There are, on the other hand, systems, such as the system described in the patent application WO 03/023574, that enable a debitor to pay, from one of his accounts, a monetary sum to an account of a creditor, the debitor and the creditor not necessarily being close to one another at the time of the transaction. Thus, a monetary transfer can be made between two individuals provided with electronic entities such as mobile phones. The transactions are in this case handled via a central system which stores the accounts of the users and their profiles. Such profiles provide a means of storing the banking information of the users and performing the necessary checks. Such a solution requires the identity of the creditor to be entered and the accounts of the users to be managed centrally.
The invention provides a way of solving at least one of the problems explained above.